Verifying device



March 20, 1951 Q C, LEATHERMAN 2,545,819

VERIFYING DEVICE Filed May 20, 1948 lBY I TTRNEY Patented Mar. 20, 1951 VERIFYING DEVICE Cliord C. Leatherman, New York, N. Y., assignor to Control Instrument Company, Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 20, 1948, Serial No. 28,085

This invention relates to improvements in statistical card machines and has particular reference to a verifying device therefor.

As Well kno-wn, verifying machines have been provided for checking the accuracy of data punched in a statistical card, wherein when an error has been made the sensing element or pin will contact the card and, in so doing, will prevent the Voperation of the escapement which would otherwise move the card to its next columnar position for Verification.

Heretofore, in machines of this character, the inertia of the mass, which includes the punching key and its operating lever, is such that the striking of the key to depress the sensing pin causes the latter to engage the card, when no perforation is present, with such force that a permanent indentation is formed in the upper surface of the card and the lower surface thereof is embossed due to the coaction of the pin with the edge of the opening in the associated die plate, and it sometimes occurs, when the striking force exerted upon the key is excessive, that the pin will even penetrate the card, thus destroying its usefulness. The unavoidable embossing of the cards in the manner described has occasioned sufficient spacing of the cards when stacked in a magazine of a sortertabulator, or similar type of machine to, at times, cause the cards to be fed inaccurately from saidv magazine and beneath the usual throat plate and, so far as known, lthere has been no practical mechanical' solution ofthe problem of eliminating these detrimental embossments.

It is therefore proposed, by the present invention, to overcome the above diiiifculties of either embossing or penetrating the cards by the provision of a simply constructed and eiliectively operable verifying device, which, upon contact of the sensing pin thereof with a card, will prevent f the latter from becoming embossed at the point of contact of the pin therewith.

A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of means associated with the sensing pin of a verifying device which will, upon contact of said pin with a card, relieve the pin of any further pressure exerted on said device by its operatmg means- The inventive idea involved is capable of receiving a' variety of mechanical expressions one of "which, forpurposes of illustration, is shown inthe accompanying drawing; but it is to be expressly understood that said drawing is utilized merely for the Apurpose of facilitating the description of the invention as a whole and not to dene 4 claims.. (C1. 73-156) 2 the limits thereof, reference being had to the appended claims for this purpose.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating a verifying device constructed in accordance` with the invention, and showing the operating means therefor;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the verifying device shown in Fig. 1,'and taken on. the line 2--2 of Fig. 3; and

y Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3-32 of Fig. 2.

For the purpose of showing one of many adaptations of the present invention, the same is il-- lustrated in conjunction with an operating mechanism such as disclosed inthe patent to Cleven, 2,102,577, dated December 14, 1937, only so much of said mechanism being shown as is necessary for a complete understanding of the instant device.

In Fig. 1, the numeral 5 indicates the bed plate of a verifying machine over which a card 6 isl moved, column by column, by the usual escapement including the pivoted bail I which is com-- mon to the operating levers 8 actuated by the: various keys 9 of the machine.

Standards II) extend upwardly from the bed plate 5 and are connected by upper and lower stationary cross bars II and I2 which constitute: guides for the vertically movable verifying de-` vices embodying the features of the .present in` vention, there being one of such devices, generally indicated at I3, associated with each of the levers 8. The upper ends of the standards I Ii support a plate I4 having a housing I5 in which the vvarious spring controlled fulcrum pins -I B, one for each lever 8, are mounted. The lower end of each pin I6 engages its lever to provide a fulcrum therefor when the key 9 is pressed downwardly and if the verifying device depressed by lever 8 senses a perforation in the card 6, the pin I6 continues to act as the fulcrum for said lever and the latter will be depressed sufficiently to operate the bail 'I so thatl the escapement mechanism will move the card' 6 to the next column to be verified upon release of the depressed key 9. However, if the usual sensing pin encounters the card, its downward motion will be arrested and the vfulcrum of the lever 8 will then be transferred to the head of said pin, with the spring of the pin I6 yielding to further pressure upon the key 9. This action prevents the lever 8 from actuating the bail suiiiciently to cause the escapement to be operated. The foregoing construction and operation is well understood in the art and needs no further amplication except to add that when the customary verifying pin similar to that shown by Cleven is employed, it has been found in actual practice that whether the pin be round or rectangular in cross section, it will invariably emboss the 'card when striking the same, even though only a normal pressure is exerted upon the key 9, and itY has been further found that excessive pressure upon the key will cause the verifying pin to punch a hole in the card.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs; 2 and 3, the verifying device I3 is so constructed that when its sensing pin H2 contacts the card 6, continued pressure uponV said device by the lever 8 will have no further effect upon the pin and, as a consequence, no indentation will be made in the upper surface of the card and hence no protuberances will be formed on theiunder' surface thereof. To accomplish this end, the device. I 3:, which, is slidably mounted inthe guides II, I2 is formed invtwo sections, one being the pin II and the other a sleeve` I8 through the boreoffwhich the pin; extends with its lower end protruding from` the sleeve for passage through a perforation in the card 5 or Contact with the upper surface thereof. A spring- I9; coiled about the sleeve IS'is seatediin the lower guide I2A and bearsagainstan enlarged portionl at the upe per end of said sleeve, and said spring acts to resist.y downward movement of the device I3 and to restore the same after pressure upon, the lever 811s released.

The bore of the sleeve I8, is enlarged atr its upper end to Vreceive the frusto-conical operating head2! of the pin Il' which normally rests against @seat formed by the enlarged part of the bore. In the portion 2.0 of the. sleeve I8, which moves within the upper guide II, saidpsleeve is provided with three circumferentially spaced apertures 22 in each o f which is disposed a restraining element' 23 preferably in, the form of a ball which, under control of the head. 2|, is urged laterally into bindingengagement with the wall of the guide II to prevent further downward movement of the device under pressure of the lever 8 after the pin I'I has contacted the card G, which contact is followed by a slight movement of said sleeve relative to said pin to effect thel above mentioned binding engagement.

The upper end of the bore of sleeve I3 is internally screw threadedto receive a cap Mupon which the lever 3f rests and which has seated therein a light coil spring 25 bearing upon the head 2I of pin I'I so as. to restore the latter to its normal-seated position when thersleeve I3 is raised by its spring IQ following the release of pressure upon said sleeve by the lever 8.

In practice, when a key 9 is struck, itslever 8 will swing about the fulcrum I6 to exert pressure upon the cap 24 and thus force the sleeve I8 and pin I'I downwardly, and if the lower end-of the pinY passes through a perforation in thecard 6, the-downward movement of the verifyingv device will continue until the bail I is actuated to release the escapement mechanism. During this downward movement, which is limited by the stroke ofthe keg/19, the spring I is compressed so that it will act to restore the device upon the releaseof saidkey. However, shouldthe pin I? encounter the card, its downward movement will beimmed-iately arrestedby such-contact, but the sleeve. I8. continues tok move under pressure of the leverl Sfaslight" distance`I sufeient topermit the inclined,- SurfaCe; of, the. head,- 2 I to force the balls 23 outwardly into binding engagement with the wall of the guide II, whereupon both the sleeve and pin are restrained against further downward movement and the fulcrum of lever 8 is transferred fromthe pin I to the cap 24 with the result that the portion of the lever B engaging the bail 'I will not be suiciently depressed tofully'operatesaidbail'. Failure of the escapement to advancethe card willA notify the operator that an error has been made in entering data in the card and the same may then be withdrawn from the machine for correction. The arresting of pin II by the card and subsequentslight, relative movement of the sleeve I8 resulting in the-stoppage of downward movement of the device I3, relieves all pressure upon the pin during-completion of the operating stroke of the key 9 and the mere contact of the pin with the card will be insufficient to leave any appreciable mark or indentation on the upper surface of the card.

What is claimed is:

l. In a verifying device` forstatistical card machines, an element operable for sensing perforations in a card and for engaging said card in the absence of a perforation, means to, exert pressurev upon said-element to operate the same, a, member through whichsaid sensing element extends and having movement with said element under the iniuence of said pressuremeansand also having movement relative tdsad element when the latter contactsthe card a guide.v for said member, and meanscarried by said member and coacting with said guideV and element upon relative movement of said member toprevent further movement of saidelement and member when the'formerI contacts said card.

2. In combination, stationary guides, a verifying device movable thereintoward andaway from a card to be verified and including` asensing pin adapted for'contact,withsaid card and a sleeve through which saidpin extends,.saidv,sleeve having movement relative toAsaid pin after contact ofthe latter with a card, and meanscarried by. said sleeve and coacting withsaid guide andpin upon relative movementof saidsleeve to prevent any further movementof said pin toward said cardk after contact therewith.

3. In combination, a stationary guide, a verify.- ing devicezmovable thereinin the, direction of a card and including a pinadaptedfor contactwith saidcardand having an operating head, amember forming aA support for saidrpin and having limited movement,v relative thereto after contact of said: pin with-a card, means vto exert, pressure upon said member to move thesame` and .said pin in the directionofrsaid card, and .means controlled by said operating.l head andeffective upon relative movement of said supporting member to engage said guide and thereby. prevent further movement of said memberY and pinin thev direction of said card.

4. In combination, astationaryguide, a.verify. inggdev-ice movable therein in the direction ofa card and including a pinI adapted forvcontact with said card and having a conicalhead, a member through which said pin extends and having `limited relative movement. with respect thereto after said pin engages a card, means toexertpressure upon said member to move the same. andsaidpin in the-direction of said card, and lockingelements carried by said member andv actuated. by said conical head to engagev andl bind. against; said guidey to therebyv limit Y said,` relative movement 5 6 and prevent further movement of said device in UNITED STATES PATENTS said guide after contact of said pin with said card. Number Name Date CLIFFORD C' LEATHERMAN- 1,712,133 Weiiand et a1 May 7, 1929 2,048,394 Kuhlman et a1. July 21, 1936 REFERENCES CITED 5 2,102,577 eleven Dec, 14, 1937 The following references are of record in the 2,290,740 Clewell July 21, 1942 le of this patent: 

